De-extinction Science: Protecting the Future by Restoring the Past

The Global Extinction Crisis

• ⚠️ Our planet has lost 23% of its wildlife in the last 50 years, indicating we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event.
• 🇦🇺 This crisis is primarily human-caused, with Australia experiencing the highest rate of mammal extinctions globally.
• ⏳ Many beautiful species, like the spotted quoll and mountain pygmy possum, are predicted to go extinct within the next 10 years due to human impacts.

The Critical Role of Apex Predators

• 🐅 The Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine), an apex predator, was crucial for its ecosystem, similar to how wolves function in Yellowstone National Park.
• 📉 The loss of apex predators leads to ecosystem collapse, as seen in Yellowstone where deer populations exploded after wolves were eradicated, causing land erosion and river pollution.
• 🐺 Reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone in 1995 restored the entire ecosystem within 10 years, demonstrating the power of apex predators to engineer landscapes.
• 🦠 In Tasmania, the Thylacine's absence allowed diseases like devil facial tumor disease to persist and spread among Tasmanian devils, highlighting the predator's role in controlling sick animals.

De-extinction: A Scientific Solution

• 🧬 De-extinction science offers a way to reverse these trends by using genetic technologies to bring back recently extinct species.
• 💡 This approach is considered essential for rescuing our planet and addressing the current biodiversity crisis, by going back to the past to fortify the future.

How De-extinction Works

• 🔬 The process involves sequencing the entire genome of an extinct species, like the Thylacine, from museum specimens.
• 🧬 Scientists then identify the closest living relative (e.g., the fat-tailed dunnart for the Thylacine) and compare their DNA.
• 🧪 By editing the 0.1% difference in DNA, a Thylacine cell can be recreated, and modern cloning technologies (like Dolly the sheep) can turn it into a living animal.
• 🍼 Marsupials offer a unique advantage: their tiny, rice-grain-sized babies mean a small surrogate mother can carry the offspring, which can then be hand-reared.

Beyond De-extinction: Genetic Resistance

• 🐸 De-extinction science also applies to currently endangered species, such as the Northern Quoll, which is threatened by invasive cane toads.
• 🧬 Researchers have identified the specific gene for cane toad toxin resistance in South American animals that co-evolved with toads.
• 🌱 By using genetic engineering, quoll cells have been made resistant to the toxin, offering a path to create live animals that can fight back against invasive species and be saved from extinction.